Ramblings and doodlings of an unsettled mind!

In a pre-conference media conference in PWTC this evening, Fourth Prime Minister Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad hoped that the conference will create attention that war mongers like Former US President George W. Bush and former British Prime Minister Tony Blair be treated as “international pariahs”, for starting a war against Iraq in 2003. Millions of civilian Iraqis suffered and the country was devastated.

“We want to make (war mongers like) Bush and Blair be disgusted”.

“People in Iraq, including women, children and old folks suffer and affacted by the invasion. When they are killed or wounded, they are considered as ‘collateral'”, explained Tun Dr. Mahathir “‘They are non combatants. These days, war are no longer on battlefields. No longer like Waterloo. The whole country is their battlefield. No one is spared from their bombings”.

Former UN co-ordinator Prof Christoff Van Sponek said that the Kuala Lumpur Conference to Criminalise War starting tomorrow is by far “A very well prepared conference. We have over 9,000 pages of materials collected. This can be something like the Nuremberg Trial. Justice is for all”.

On the basis of the tribunal, Tun Dr. Mahathir explained “This will be based on the existing law created by United Nation (UN). We are not creating a new law”.

When asked about the Kuala Lumpur Conference being an NGO initiated tribunal as compared to the Nuremberg Tribunal in post World War II Europe “We cannot rely on governments”, Tun Dr. Mahathir also added “We hope that one day in the future, one of the conditions that people who wanted to run for public office is to make the commitment that when the become to power, they will not use the military for offensive purpose”.

“NGO can play a very effective role in creating international awareness and attention. Example is environmental issues. Like Green Peace. Now they are a political party. Maybe one day we have a political party that champion to criminalise war”.

When asked why he did not do this when he was the Prime Minister, Tun Dr. Mahathir quipped “I never supported war. We did not get involve with the invasion of Iraq. In fact, we sent troops to Bosnia to help Bosnians defend themselves. That is what military should do, defend people not kill”.